


The Midou Guide to Bullshitting Your Assignment and Falling in Love While You’re At It

by ShionsTear



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, Hashtag ToraMina Day, Humor, I Don't Mention That In The Fic So Here You Go, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Literature Student!Minami, M/M, Photography, Photography Student!Torao, Romance, Veterinary Medicine Student!Touma, written for ToraMina Day 2k19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-11-18 16:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18123437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShionsTear/pseuds/ShionsTear
Summary: "Went to the park to bullshit my photography assignment and saw you reading on a bench so I’ve been sneaking photos of you because your hair is catching the light in such a perfect way and - uh, shit, now you’ve seen me."





	The Midou Guide to Bullshitting Your Assignment and Falling in Love While You’re At It

“Fuck.” Torao grumbled as he quickly packed his camera into a bag and got ready to leave the apartment. Too sudden had the memory of an assignment due on midnight that day come back into his mind while he was enjoying a chill Sunday afternoon at home, watching one of his favourite hero movies on Blu-ray for the umpteenth time. He had no theme, no idea and no time. 

Having mastered the skill of changing into not-home wear clothes after consecutively failing to wake up on time for class a few times – it was the alarm clock’s fault, definitely not his – it only took him about five minutes to be ready to go out. He checked if the battery of his camera was full one last time, it luckily was, and stepped out of his room.

“Tora? You’re heading out?”

“Yeah I forgot to do an assignment.”

“When is it due?”

“Midnight tonight.”

“Oh…” his roommate put down his can of soda. “Want me to help you?”

“I appreciate the offer Touma, but do you know anything about photography?”

“…I know how to push the shutter?”

“Thanks.” Torao laughed shortly. “Just make sure to record the new episode of _Your Hero College_ today so I can watch it later.”

“Alright, good luck.”

“Thanks. Bye.” he said and closed the entrance door behind of him.

“Always thinking about his hero shows…” Touma took another sip and sat down on the couch in the living room. The two had been roommates of a small apartment in the proximity of their university. They have known each other since middle school and decided to share an apartment when they entered university.

It was a Sunday in early April, the sun was shining and a gentle breeze of wind was blowing through the crowns of the cherry trees in the park to which Torao had just arrived at. It was a quite large park about 15 minutes away – by bicycle – from his apartment and would normally offer countless possibilities and opportunities to take nice pictures. It was also just the first thing he had come up with when thinking about a place not too far away he could use for his assignment.

He didn’t quite exactly remember the details of the assignment, but he knew that his professor always expected more or less the same. So therefore her assignments tended to be always similar if not identical to each other. Though obviously the students were instructed to vary in theme each time. Some liked her way of handling assignments, others didn’t. Torao was just glad that it let him bullshit his way through situations like the one he was currently facing.

He stopped his bicycle at the entrance to the park and got off. Before he even entered he had already grabbed his camera and pointed it at various scenes around him. The more pictures he took, no matter how good or bad they were, the more he had to choose from in the end.

There were two things Torao had always loved. Heroes and beauty. When he was young, his older brother used to bring him a new action figure of a hero he liked every time he visited their home. Due to that and hero shows, comics and everything remotely connected to it he became a big fan and started collecting various items.

Torao also always liked anything beautiful. If asked how that started, he wouldn’t be able to answer, he’d always say it was as if he was just magically attracted to them. And when he discovered that photography could capture beauty in a timeless frame that would never fade, he decided that he wanted to become a photographer and practised a lot.

The camera’s lens was pointing at some tree crowns and he pushed the shutter when a gust flew by and some cherry blossoms rain down. He followed the dancing petals through his viewfinder and suddenly stopped in his movement. He had caught something beautiful with his camera. _Someone_ beautiful.

For some reason he reflexively hid behind a bush next to a tree, not minding the people and families that were passing by and questioning that young man’s behaviour.

“Mommy look, that weird guy is hiding in a bush!” a young boy said pulling at his mother’s skirt.

“Shh, don’t say it out loud Takashi. And don’t point at him, let’s go.” the mother answered and pulled her child along.

Torao paid no mind to those people. In fact, he didn’t even hear them since he was too engrossed with his discovery. He zoomed in a bit, but he wanted to get an actual closer shot. He stood up from the bush and continued walking, his gaze always fixed on the target. He moved to a tree that was standing closer and hid behind of it. He peeked around the trunk and was once again awestruck by that beautiful person.

They were sitting alone on a bench under a cherry tree. The sun was shining through the branches and dyed them in specks of shade and light. The light that fell on their hair was being reflected in such a perfect way, Torao thought. Must be because of the seashell colour, he continued thinking.

Ever since he got interested in photography he started acquiring a weirdly specific knowledge of colours and shades. Another trait that he adopted was to completely ignore his surroundings and not notice how everyone around him was worriedly staring at his stalker-like silhouette. But Torao didn’t care, he was only thinking about that beautiful person. They were holding a book in their hand and slowly turning the pages.

He pushed the shutter.

Hiding behind the tree again, he crouched down and looked at the picture on the display of the camera.

“Whoa.” he whispered. “This guy’s really pretty, I should get some nice shots for this assignment. I can make it about the beauties of springtime.” he stopped talking for a bit and started thinking. After a short while, he resumed talking to himself. “Yes, this’ll work. I just need more pics.” he stood up and positioned himself like before, closed his left eye and looked through the viewfinder with the other one.

“Alright, just some more.” he said. At the same time, the person on the bench moved his right hand to his mouth to hide a chuckle. “Now!” Torao exclaimed and took another picture. “Yes, yes! Wait, maybe I should ask hi---“ but before he could finish his sentence, a pair of light pink eyes stared right back at him. “Shit.” he uttered and hid behind the tree.

His cheeks turned a bit red of embarrassment for being caught. He sighed, took a deep breath and decided to just walk to the pretty person; like anyone else would’ve done in the first place, but he wasn’t anyone else.

Torao hung the camera around his neck and slowly stepped closer to the bench. The guy sitting on it observed him as he got closer, a smile on his face. Torao bowed down in greeting and sat down next to him, with enough space in between of them; the situation was awkward enough already.

“…” Torao turned to him and wanted to say something, couldn’t think of anything smart so he just blurted out the first thing that crossed his mind. “You’re really fucking beautiful.” and without waiting for an answer he just buried his face in the palm of his hands.

“My, thank you very much.” he answered and laughed. “I’ll have to confess that you are much to my liking as well.”

“Huh!?” he looked up and turned to the side. “I mean…” he stopped and leaned back on the bench. “I know.” he said, pushed back his bangs and let them fall down on his face again. “Oh, uhm, but…”

“Yes?” he closed his book and gave his full attention to Torao.

“I’m… sorry for sneakily taking pictures of you. I should’ve asked before…”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. It was by pure chance that I saw you as you went into _hiding_ again.”

“Still, uhm, may I take some more pictures of you?” he asked immediately.

“May I know for what purpose?”

“Oh, right. Sorry.“ he cleared his throat. “I’m Midou Torao, a third year photography student and to be very honest, I’ve got an assignment due tonight.”

“I understand, Midou-san. I’ve never been a model before, but if you’re okay with me…”

“Yes! Your seashell hair and cosmos eyes are in perfect sync with the blooming cherry blossoms, it makes a really nice frame, I’d love to take more pictures from different angles and distances.”

“Seashell and cosmos?” he asked confused.

“They’re different shades of pink, so they match the colours of spring. And your light clothes really harmonize with the entire scene.”

“I see, I’m glad to hear that I can be of that much help to you then.” he chuckled once more. _Crap, he’s really cute too_ Torao thought to himself as he stared into the other’s face. “Oh, forgive me, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Natsume Minami, first year literature student.”

“Nice to meet you, Minami.” Torao realized he just called him by his first name like he normally does with others, but since Minami didn’t say anything against it he was probably okay with it.

“Well then, Midou-san, what do you want me to do?”

“Nothing, just continue reading the book as you were before and don’t mind me or the camera. I’ll go get my tripod I left on the back of my bike.” he explained and hurried back to his bicycle.

“A bike? Interesting…” Minami said to himself, did as Torao instructed him to and continued reading his book.

A moment later, Torao came back and extended the tripod and placed it some metres away from Minami and started taking pictures without any further ado. Minami just continued reading his book, turning the pages as before. Sometimes he’d tuck some hair behind his ear when the wind blew it into his face. Torao was trying to capture all of those little motions with his camera.

The contents of his assignment started popping up in his mind as he observed Minami. A photo spread. They all show the same motive. Minami reading on a bench under a cherry tree. But from different angles and positions. To fully capture the beauty. Seashells. Cherry blossoms. All the separate ideas came together and formed a plan.

He was enjoying taking pictures of Minami and felt somewhat sad that he had to bullshit through his assignment, if only he had met him earlier and could’ve spent more time with him.

“…done.” Torao said after a half an hour long photography session in the park. He packed his camera back into his bag and grabbed his tripod. Minami closed his book again and smiled at him. Torao only needed those past 30 minutes to notice that he fell for that smile and wanted to make and see him smile more. He walked back to the bench and sat down.

“Well done. It seemed that you were really into it, yes?” Minami asked.

“Ah, yeah. Sorry, did I take up your time when you needed to be somewhere?”

“You did not, I had no plans for the day.”

“I see, cool.” Torao looked skywards and observed the falling cherry blossoms. “Oh, by the way, if you want to see the final pictures, I can mail them to you or something…” he said, hoping to somehow get Minami’s mail address to have a way and contact him again.

“Yes, I’d very much like to see them whe---“ he was in the middle of the sentence when Torao’s hand suddenly moved into his direction and stopped on top of Minami’s head.

“Sorry, there was a cherry flower petal stuck in your hair.” Torao said. Minami was taken aback by the sudden nearness, but it was also the first time he took a closer look at Torao’s face. “You were saying?”

“…h-hm?” Minami found himself lost in Torao’s soft red eyes. “Oh, y-yes…” he cleared his throat. “I… wanted to ask you, will you be exhibiting your work along with the assignments of the other students?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, but well, only on campus. Our prof wants us to know how ‘real exhibitions’ feel like, so she always does that. She even chooses the three best works, like it’d be of any meaning, seriously.”

“In that case…” Minami opened his bag and stored away his book inside, but instead took out his phone. “Let us exchange numbers. And once your professor holds that exhibition, please do call me so I can go see it in person, is that okay?”

“Y-yes!” Torao was happy, that was even better than just an email. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and they exchanged their numbers. “Thanks, I’ll let you know then.”

“Thank you very much.” Minami smiled and put his phone away. “Well then, I’d love to talk to you more, but I saw that my roommate left me a message, it seems he needs my help with something.”

“Oh, no, I understand. Thanks a lot for today.”

“You’re very welcome, I hope you get a passing grade.”

“Hmph, piece of cake.” Torao crossed his arms.

“I’m looking forward to it then.” Minami chuckled and bowed down to Torao, turned around and started walking away. Once he was out of sight, Torao leaned back on the bench, closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

“Hah, I’ve got it bad…”

He stayed there for a little while until he remembered he still had to actually work on the assignment. He jumped up from the bench and hurried back to his bicycle, just to be stopped by a police officer waiting at the entrance to the park.

“Excuse me sir?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“Please excuse us, but have you seen a suspicious looking man around the park? We’ve received reports of someone ‘stalking around the park and acting weirdly’, have you noticed anything by any chance?”

“Me?” Torao knew that the officer was talking about him. It wasn’t the first time. “I didn’t, maybe he left before I got here?” but he had a good poker face.

“Alright, thank you very much. Sorry for stopping you on your way. Have a nice evening and be careful.” he said and walked into the park.

“Thanks!” Torao nodded and approached his bicycle. He got on quickly and drove away. “Phew…”

 

 

 

“I’m back.” Minami said as he opened the door to his apartment.

“Minami, help me!” a voice from inside yelled.

“I only just arrived, Isumi-san. Would you at least give me time to take off my shoes?”

“Hurryyy!”

“What is it?” he asked as he stepped into the kitchen and saw his roommate covered in flour. Minami tried to ignore the fact that the kitchen table and counter looked like a battlefield and crossed his arms. “So?”

“I was trying to bake a cake…”

“I can see that you tried.”

“Don’t just stand there and help me!” he exclaimed. “…please.”

“Why don’t you ask your girlfriend to help you? Yotsuba-san, was it?”

“A-Aya-chan isn’t my girlfriend!!” he blushed. “…a-at least not… not yet…” he added almost inaudible. “In fact, this cake is for her, so there’s no way I can ask for her help, right!?”

“Hah, fine. I shall help you, even though you interrupted my chance with a possible partner as well…”

“What?”

“Nothing. I’ll go change first, Isumi-san.”

“And stopped calling me that! Call me Haruka, we’ve been sharing the flat for months already!” he pouted.

“I’ll think about it.” Minami said and disappeared into his room. He took off his jacket and hung it on a hook next to the door. He sat down on his bed and grabbed his phone. A chuckle escaped his lips as he put it on the bed side table to charge it. The screen showed a newly saved contact.

It was saved under the name “photography moron”.

 

 

 

“Minami, over here!” Torao waved his arms and called him. Minami was on the other side of the street and waited to be able to cross. He approached Torao who was waiting in front of the gates of his university.

“Good day, Midou-san. Have I made you wait long?” he asked, a smile on his face.

“Oh, no! Thanks for coming on such a short notice.”

“By no means, I’m curious to see the end result. Did you pass?”

“Hmph, who do you take me for!? Of course I did.”

“Congratulations then.”

“Thanks.” Torao started leading the way. “But our prof didn’t tell us about who won first place yet.” he started laughing and Minami tilted his head in confusion. “What do I get if mine is number one?” he turned to Minami.

“Hmm…” he started thinking. “I know, how about a kiss?”

“…” Torao did not expect that answer.

“And a real date? Does that sound okay?”

“…y-yes…” he managed to say in his perplexed state of mind. “L-let’s go check then.”

“Haha, very well. After you.”

“S-sure…” Torao’s cheeks turned slightly red as he started walking again. “Please let me be number one.” he said to himself, crossed his fingers and made Minami laugh.

Little did they know that hanging under Torao’s work was a flower shaped tag with a big 1 on it, right next to the title of his photo spread.

It read “Serene seashell under blooming rain”.

 

 

_The End_

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY (unofficial) TORAMINA DAY!!!
> 
> I really really came to love them a lot more in recent months so... here you go, I hope you enjoyed it, thank you very much for reading and feel free to leave a comment!
> 
> EDIT: LOOK AT THIS AWESOME [ARTWORK](https://twitter.com/judeeburr/status/1135124198509015040) THAT MY DEAR FRIEND [JUDEE](https://twitter.com/judeeburr) MADE, IT'S SO PRETTY!!! AND CHECK OUT ALL THE OTHER ART TOO, IT'S SPARKLY AND FANCY!!


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